


780 Days

by anakien



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU, Angst, Child Death, Dead L (Death Note), F/M, Yagami Souichirou's A+ Parenting, ambiguous parentage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakien/pseuds/anakien
Summary: The DEATH NOTE will not affect those under 780 days old.(Alternatively, Light bides his time once L's child is born).
Relationships: Amane Misa/L, Amane Misa/Yagami Light, L & Yagami Light
Comments: 11
Kudos: 44





	780 Days

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Please proceed with caution in this fic. Light very much does harm to this child. If that triggers you, or any sort of parental neglect/emotional absence, please be careful. 
> 
> Italics represent Light's thoughts.
> 
> I'm very out of practice writing any Death Note character besides Mello or Near. This is the first non-Meronia story I've written in months, so I'd love some feedback (also, apologies if I'm rusty!)
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Death Note. I also took Hikari's name from the Death Note: Light Up the New World movie (as that's what Light's son was named there, too, according to the name Mikami wrote in the Death Note). Don't worry, this is a very different AU, so don't feel scared if you haven't watched that.
> 
> Also, so I can claim I contributed something (albeit late) to DeathNoteTober - this combines prompts 11 (Secret), 17 (Victim), and 18 (Lies). 
> 
> R&R, and enjoy!

Light stands at Misa's side, watching her coo over the infant. She's looked better - she reeks of blood and sweat, and her hair is plastered to the side of her neck. _Disgusting_ , he thinks.

"Light," she says softly, wide eyes trained on him. Her mascara is smeared and lined under her eyes. "Don't you want to hold him?"

His blood boils beneath his skin, and he fights the urge to grit his teeth. "Of course," he says instead, and she beams at him. After all, the nurse standing in the corner of the room is watching. He holds his arms out, and she gently places the bundle in his arms.

Crumpled and red-faced, with a shock of unruly black hair. He wasn't sure what he expected a child of L's to look like, but he shouldn't be surprised.

"He has his mother's nose," Light says politely, and Misa smiles at him.

"And his father's chin," she adds, still smiling.

He hums noncommittally, face deceptively calm. "Have you thought of a name?"

"What do you think of Hikari? I think Yagami Hikari has a nice ring to it - like father, like son!"

His forced smile disappears, and his anger roars in his ears. So she's continuing her lie, Light thinks, gaze focused on the infant so he doesn't have to look at her innocent expression. _L's not here to take care of the child anymore, so she thinks she can pawn it off on me. You can't outsmart me. I killed L. I will kill the both of you._ "It's too soon to tell," he says smoothly, and he hands the infant back to Misa. "You should get some rest. I'll call the nurse for you."

He steps back and turns away from her, grabbing his jacket from the chair on the other side of the room and shrugging it on.

"You're leaving already?" Misa asks in a small voice.

He doesn't turn around. "Someone has to go out and tell the good news. I will try to come back tomorrow." She doesn't respond, and so he finally turns his head. Misa has her nose pressed up against the infant's - Hikari's, lost in a world of her own.

He walks out without another word. The situation irritates him, but it is a small matter. Once he gets home and can take out the Death Note, it will all be over.

* * *

His parents are thrilled, of course, to welcome their first grandchild. Sayu squeals with excitement about babysitting, and even some of the members of the task force give him congratulatory pats on the back when he tells them.

Small moments. Tedious moments. Light plays the role of the proud father well, but every moment that stretches on makes him inwardly grit his teeth. Ryuk has followed him ever since he first arrived at the hospital, doing nothing but cackle in his ear.

The moment Light arrives home, he is racing to his desk and tearing out his drawers to uncover the notebook. He throws it down on the desk and flips it open to a random blank page. Ryuk hovers behind him, laughter suddenly quiet.

A heart attack is too unusual for an infant. Light taps a pen against the blank pages for a moment. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - common for children under the age of one. Perfect. Delicately, he removes the cap of the pen and writes out Yagami Hikari in his nicest handwriting. The most fitting end he can manage for the son of his enemy.

Forty seconds tick away on his watch. He waits for Misa to call. He can practically imagine her panicked voice on the phone, sobbing and wailing and apologizing. He can't help the smile that spreads across his face.

He checks his watch again. It's been almost two minutes, and his phone is suspiciously silent. No matter, he can take matters into his own hands. He dials Misa's phone number and holds it up to his ear, still staring down at the notebook.

She answers on the third ring. "Light?"

"Misa," he says. "How's Hikari?"

"Hikari?" she repeats, and he can hear the rustling of sheets as she gets up. "He's sleeping right now. Is something wrong?" A faint note of panic rings through.

"Check on him."

"I'm looking at him right now. He's still sleeping."

Light can barely hear over the sound of blood rushing through his ears.

"Daddy's worried about you," she coos to Hikari. She says something else, but he hangs up the phone and slams it down onto his desk.

"Why didn't you stop me?" He whirls on Ryuk, who is now lying sprawled out on the couch on the other side of the room.

Ryuk chuckles. "And why would I do that?"

"Why the hell didn't it work?!" Ryuk continues to ignore him, and Light turns back around and grabs the Death Note. He flips to the front and looks over the list of rules. It takes him a couple of minutes, but he finally finds it.

The Death Note will not affect those under seven-hundred and eighty days old.

Light curses and slams his hands onto the table.

"You think you can wait that long, Light-o?" Ryuk taunts. "Why not just take matters into your own hands?"

Seven-hundred and eighty days.

Just over two years.

He can bide his time, play the part. L's child will be dead very, very soon.

* * *

At one week old, Misa brings Hikari home from the hospital. He's collected his thoughts at this point, knows exactly what he needs to do and how he needs to behave for the next two years. He welcomes her home with as much grace as he can muster and immediately deposits Hikari in the crib his father had built.

He is willing to hold the child. He is willing to set up car seats, diaper tables, furniture, you name it. He is not willing to change diapers. He is not willing to feed him. All of that is Misa's job, anyway.

He is lucky his job is such a pressing one. It's not unusual for him to work long nights, stay at the office on weekends, meet up with other women during the evening. The less he has to deal with L's child, the better.

* * *

Sometimes, he thinks it would be even more satisfying if he took the child and fully raised it as his own. L's child, brought up to be Kira's own successor. The irony is not lost on him, the taste of victory sweet on his tongue.

Unfortunately, this task is meant to punish Misa's infidelity just as much as it is to continue to beat L, so the child must yet die.

Her eyes are still useful, so he holds off on writing her name. And without her, the care of the infant falls on him, and that is the last thing he wants.

* * *

Still, surprisingly, Misa is a better mother than Light imagined. Flighty, vapid Misa. She coos over the infant and doesn't fight him when he refuses to get up in the night to feed the child. Whatever the child needs, she provides.

It's not like she has anything better to do. She was fired from her modeling job when they discovered the pregnancy, so she spends her time either in their apartment or visiting with his mother and sister. Anything to keep the two of them out of his hair.

* * *

One night, when Light comes home from work, late into the night, he sees L standing in front of the window. He pauses in the doorway, letting the keys dangle from his hand.

"Ryuzaki?" he says.

L makes a shushing noise, turning to give him a scathing look. He turns, and in his arms is Hikari. L holds the child awkwardly, all pointed elbows and hunched shoulders. The child doesn't seem to care. He sleeps in his father's arms.

"Be careful, Light," L says. His eyes glitter in the dark, and the look on his face is smug. "You'll wake Hikari."

"You're dead," Light says.

"Am I?" L replies. He looks down at the infant. "Ah, you thought you were rid of me. See, Kira, now there will always be a piece of me with you. You are so focused on your new world, your legacy. My legacy is right in front of you."

Light sits up in bed, his heart pounding. Misa sleeps soundly in bed next to him, the crib by her side. From his seat, he can see Hikari kicking his legs into the air.

There's no L in sight.

 _It was just a dream_.

He lays back down, uneasiness churning into irritation. He will not be able to truly rest until L's child is dead.

* * *

"Light," Misa cries out from the doorway behind him.

"I'm busy, Misa." Light doesn't turn around from his laptop. He's focusing on a case taken as L, some sex-trafficking ring in the US. The notebook lies open in his lap, pen in his hand.

"Come on," she says flippantly. "This won't take long." Her voice switches to a coo. "We have something to show Daddy. Don't we, Hikari?"

Light grits his teeth. "Misa," he warns.

She ignores him and comes to stand in his peripheral, Hikari balanced on her hip. He kicks his chubby legs and chews on his fist, watching Light with big, dark eyes.

"It'll be quick, I promise," she says. "Hikari, come on. Say it again. Say it for Daddy."

Hikari removes his hand from his mouth, and Light watches, disgusted, as it trails spit all the way to where he clutches Misa's shirt. "Da," he says, breaking into a wide smile when Misa squeals and tickles him, praising and excited.

"His first words, Light! He said your name!" Misa beams at him.

He sighs and scrubs a hand down the side of his face. "That's great, Misa," he says, but really, he's just irritated he was interrupted for something as insignificant as that. "Why don't you go phone my mother and tell her the news?"

"Da," Hikari says again, and stretches out chubby arms in Light's direction.

"Take him away now," Light says, turning back towards his laptop.

Hikari starts to whimper. Light can see wide eyes looking at him sadly out of the corner of his gaze. That gaze then turns into full blown tears.

"Out, Misa!"

Misa protests, but one glare in her direction sends her skittering from his office. The door slams shut behind her, and he groans, irritated.

He can still hear faint crying from the other room. He puts on his headset and lets Misa handle it.

* * *

One day, when Misa is out running errands, Light requests the results from the paternity test done at Hikari's birth.

The results claim he is the father. 99.98% match, the paper reads.

It's still not enough for him. He is convinced that these were faked. L, or someone from that ridiculous orphanage working for L, prepared these when the request came in. All to cover the lie, and protect L's spawn.

Light crumples up the papers and throws them away.

* * *

Light taps his fingers against the kitchen table, trying not to let his annoyance show. Had he known these were the plans Misa had been working on, he would have stayed at the office.

His mother and Misa are setting the table, big smiles on their faces. It seems that Misa has adopted his family as her own now, organizing unnecessary family functions as if it makes up for her own missing parents. He doesn't really care.

It's always tiring to deal with his family. Especially because when they're around, he has to deal with the baby.

Hikari sits in his lap, banging his fists on the kitchen table. Sayu stops by his shoulder and leans down, making a face and smiling when Hikari giggles.

"Can I hold him?" she asks.

Light passes him over without another word and watches as Sayu bounces over to the other chair to play.

His father comes and sits down on the couch next to him. They sit in silence, both watching Sayu and Hikari interact.

"How has Hikari been?" His father asks.

A flit of irritation scorches through him, but Light smiles anyway. "He is a very easy child. He rarely cries, and he has always slept well through the night."

"You were like that as a child."

Light turns to face him, but his father's eyes are still on Sayu.

"'The goodness of the father reaches higher than a mountain; that of the mother goes deeper than the ocean,'" his father says.

Light remembers his father teaching him that parable when he was a child. He nods, accepting his father's wisdom, but on the inside his irritation grows.

This is all bullshit. The child isn't his. He is no father, though no one else has ever commented on the resemblance to L. He is no father, even though he is raising another man's child. The fact that he even has to put on this facade angers him.

"Light!" his mother calls out. "Misa tells me you've never taken a family picture before."

There's a beat of silence before he responds. "No, I don't think we have. Huh, I hadn't even thought about it before!"

His mother tuts. "Sayu, bring Hikari back to Light. Misa, go join them!"

Sayu pouts, but she brings the baby back over, depositing him back in Light's lap. Light's father moves aside to allow Misa to sit next to them. She puts a hand on the crook of his elbow and leans in close to both of them.

His mother fiddles with their camera, an old, outdated one that the Yagamis have had for years. Sayu rolls her eyes and takes it, teasing her mother for being technology impaired.

"Smile, everyone. You too, Hikari," she says.

Light turns his best smile toward the camera. The flash blinds him for a moment. Misa reaches over and tries to take Hikari, but he cries when she pulls him away from Light.

"Guess we know who his favorite is," Sayu says, joking.

Misa looks offended, and Light laughs, too. He can't help but feel satisfied at that, in spite of himself. "He just wants his father," he says.

* * *

Hikari continues to grow. He starts to smile, wave and even move around. He takes his first steps, which delights the rest of his family. He wears the mask of a proud father well, as nobody seems to realize his true thoughts.

By the time he turns two, Hikari is starting to even grow defiant, crawling away from Misa when she tries to give him a bath. He follows Light around their apartment, even when Light ignores his presence. It's like having another Ryuk follow him around, and Light is very adept at ignoring unwanted beings.

* * *

One night, when Ryuk and Light are alone in his office, Ryuk pokes him.

"Are you still planning on offing the kid?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I dunno. Wasn't sure if he'd grown on you or anything. He's a cute one, as far as humans go."

"He's not my child."

Ryuk shrugs. "Yeesh. Just a question."

Light turns back around. "It won't be very much longer now," he says mildly.

* * *

On day seven-hundred and eighty-one, Light encourages Misa to take Hikari to the park. Excited by his good mood, she bundles him up and leaves mid-morning.

He's been in a ridiculously good mood all day. He has waited two years for this. It's a small moment he will allow himself to revel in.

Ryuk remains uncharacteristically silent, hoving behind his shoulder as he opens the notebook and grabs his finest pen, the one given to him by his parents when he graduated university.

He holds the point of the pen right over the page and pauses.

"So, Ryuk," he says flippantly. "Should I use Lawlight or Yagami?"

Ryuk doesn't say anything, simply grunting in response.

No matter. Light will not let Ryuk ruin this moment. He signs the name on a fresh page in the back of the notebook. Victory courses through his veins at the sight, and he continues writing.

Yagami Hikari - runs from his mother at the playground four blocks from his house and is hit by a car at 11:09AM. Dies at the moment of impact.

He sets the pan down, utterly satisfied. Misa should call any minute now.

While waiting, he carefully tears the page from the notebook and grabs his lighter. He carefully sets the paper on fire, watching the words burn away. After all, Misa may suspect, but she will never find any proof.

He stands and tosses the ash into the trash. He takes the notebook and locks it away again.

His phone rings. The caller ID reads Misa's name. _Finally._

"Hello?" he says, answering with his most innocent voice.

Misa babbles, sobbing. "Light - it's Hikari. There's been an accident. A car… Please, come quick. The hospital."

"Alright, Misa, calm down," he says. "I'll be right there." He hangs up abruptly, cutting off her cries.

He stands, turning his head to look at Ryuk. When he meets his gaze, Ryuk suddenly begins to cackle.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"No, what is it?"

"You think you are always right, don't you, Light?" Ryuk says.

"I usually am."

"Are you though?" Ryuk asks. "Even about the kid?"

Light clenches his jaw. "What are you trying to say to me?" he demands.

Ryuk cackles again. "Nothing. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

For the first time in seven-hundred and eighty-one days, Light feels a tremor of doubt.

**Author's Note:**

> My headcanon as I was writing this: I believe Hikari really is Light's son, but he's so far off the deep end in believing that he's L's that he refuses to consider otherwise. Do with that info what you will ;)
> 
> Additionally, this is a true Japanese parable: The goodness of the father reaches higher than a mountain; that of the mother goes deeper than the ocean. I wanted a scene with Souichirou and Light "bonding" over fatherhood but also thought neither would be truly emotional.
> 
> Also - the thought of L not knowing how to hold a baby right totally was inspired by madmeridian's fic "A New Addition" posted on A03. (Part of her Expectations AU) so check it out if the thought also makes you laugh.
> 
> Please R&R!


End file.
